Addiction
by Wishing On A Falling Star
Summary: How can a girl who can never be touched become friends with a boy who is becoming sober and can't help him or is she just refusing to help him? How will both of these tow find love in a world that is the worst condition for both of them?
1. Preface

PREFACE

I never thought that I would be in the position to watch someone I love lying in an ambulance cold and pale. Needles stuck out of his arms, machines beeped in the background, everything looked like it was pulled out of a movie. This is what my life had turned into, a disastrous movie that didn't have a happy ending.

His eyes opened, meeting mine in an intense gaze. Behind that, I could tell he was in so much pain, he was weak.

"Bella," he mumbled. After a few profanities muttered under his breath, he continued. "I love you."

A machine somewhere in the dark ambulance started beating more erratically. One of the paramedic's pushed me backwards so they could get to him. Tears rolled down my face hearing him call out my name.

Wait, 'I love you?'


	2. Outcasts

OUTCAST

Breathing became even more difficult than it already was in the crowded hallways; Jake, Brian, Tyler, and the new kid were staring at me. I sped up minutely as I passed them, but they weren't going to let me through without a fight. Too tired to fight against them, I gave into what was coming next.

One of them grabbed my wrist, spinning me under his arm like a dancer, and slamming me into the wall behind us. Slowly, the new boy's face came closer to my own; his greasy blond hair touched my forehead. I tried to turn away, but he wasn't going to have that, he grabbed my chin, making me gaze into his dim brown eyes. They were glazed over showing that he had been participating in the activities that the other three do, he smelled like it.

Drugged up or not, he had heard about me. Jake Foley said something behind us that I wasn't able to make out, followed by a round of laughter. Shale – someone mentioned his name in the forming crowd – must've heard, there was a smug smile plastered on his thin lips that proved that he definitely had.

I couldn't stare at him any longer like he would've enjoyed, the pain overtook my body. The burning that had started in my wrist from his touch began to spread to the rest of my arm. Shale pressed his ear against my chest where my heart beat loud enough for everyone to hear. It ignited another fire, one I was afraid I wouldn't be able to bear.

The dizziness made my knees cave out from underneath me, pushing all my weight onto Shale. He snickered in response, but that's not what caused the tears to stream down my face. I refused to let the sobs escape my mouth at the expense of some whispering teenagers.

"Freak."

"Outcast."

I was never affected by the names that they had subdued to call me, I usually ignored them. Then again my ears weren't ever blocked by static and I wasn't going through a panic attack. When I heard their gossiping, my walls were up, and I was completely prepared for the obstacles I was about to face, but now, all my walls had crumbled.

Their words weren't the only thing that sunk in, but the memories from that night brought even more damage. They played on a movie reel inside of my head; I was reliving those moments over and over. My world crashed that night, blackness filled my life; my parent's hearts broke more than once. It was then that I became a freak, a haptephobic, since then I couldn't be touched.

This boy, either proving that he was worthy or proving something to Jake and the other boys, had gripped my wrist with a force that would leave a bruise, everything went out of my control. I already had given up at this point, trying to push Shale away from me that is, there wasn't enough strength left in me to move.

"Get the hell away from her!" someone in the distance yelled, their footsteps running towards us.

Some of the kids must've parted or walked away from the semicircle that had appeared to their classes since the footsteps didn't pause to push through anyone. The shackles on my wrists were ripped away, releasing my body to crash to the floor. I curled into a ball, finally letting a few cries of pain audible.

Jake chuckled in the distance along with a few others at my weak form on the hallway floor of Clayton High School.

"I said, 'Get the hell away from her.' Now!" his low voice, the louder it became, a menacing calmness was apparent.

I peeked through my curtain of hair to see that a hooded boy had his hand fisted into the front of Shale's shirt. The hooded boy tugged Shale down the hallway towards the other end, while the other three followed, snickering at their new 'toy.'

The stack of books that I had been clutching onto crumpled to the tiles as I sprinted towards the bathroom. There was a brown haired girl who I had noticed in the crowd earlier touching up her makeup plastered face. She caught a glance of the person who just walked into the bathroom, then ran out with a scared look on her face.

I would've wondered how she could be intimidated of _me_, but the burning on my arm and chest brought me back to reality. The faucets seemed to be moving in little circles from the dizziness inside of my head. Trying to turn on the water, I hit my hand against the linoleum. It was nothing compared to the pain spreading over my skin.

With the cold water handle gripped tightly in my hand, I yanked it on. I grabbed a handful of paper towels, soaked them in freezing water, and the scrubbed vigorously. It turned into a light stinging sensation before I moved onto my chest making it feel the same as the rest of me.

The mirror reflected a girl who was weak and unwanted. I spun away from the image, not ready to face how truly broken I was, she wasn't who a seventeen year old girl was supposed to be. She didn't have any friends or a functional family, she was just…abnormal.

Remaining tears and faded makeup that rested underneath my eyes were wiped away by my shaking hands. I ran my fingers through my tangled burgundy hair, attempting to wrangle in the mess.

This would always happen, I knew I was going to be like this for the rest of my life, but I didn't like to prove it. It wasn't some trophy that you go around flaunting; it's more of something you would hide in a box under your bed, far away from the world.

It was all over, the panic attack at least was, but just for now.

I moved to exit the reeking bathroom except the door swung open to show my English teacher, Ms. Hartsburg, glaring at me. She didn't seem like she was going to lecture me, but just motioned to follow her. I did as I was told, always.

The books that I had dropped weren't on the floor where they last were. The empty hallway was just that; empty, except for Ms. Hartsburg and myself. Her heels clicking against the tiles were the only thing disturbing the silence.

We entered the classroom and as I assumed they would, all eyes snapped to my face. Everyone looked away a moment later, but just those long seconds made me cringe. I was reminiscing about why I was like this, that I hadn't noticed the teacher talking to me.

"Ms. Sand?" she called to me. "Bella, please take your seat next to Mr. Grey."

My head whirled around to my normally vacant desk to be met with a pair of dark blue eyes; the color that belonged in the deepest part of the ocean. I had never seen him before, but I had heard about what happened to Edward Grey.

"Ms. Sand," Ms. Hartsburg's monotonous, irritated voice broke through again.

I quickly made my way to the only desk that still had an empty chair. The obnoxious scratching of the legs against the floor bounced through the room as Edward kicked the stool out for me. By chancing a look at him, I would be giving into the magnetic pull I felt inside of me. So, being rude, I sat down without offering him a thank you.

The teacher started her lesson plans, ten minutes into class because of me. I was always a burden to people, but I usually was the first person in the classroom. Most teachers would've ignored my absence this one time.

If I said that the magnetic pull between Edward and I had disappeared after sitting next to him for half of the period, I would be lying. It kept becoming more potent as each minute passed by. I denied it though; there was no way I could feel like this towards a stranger or towards anyone. The pull told me to watch over him and be there for him, but I was not protector.

Edward wasn't the kind of boy you brought home to meet the parents. He had just been arrested for possession of an illegal substance at a party that was busted Friday night. Since, he has been going to court to find out how they would deal with him. This wasn't the first mark on his criminal record. They were going to lock him in jail, but even the court knew that that wouldn't do anything for him.

Two girls this morning mentioned that for the next six months he was on probation, he has to attend meetings with a professional drug counselor on Wednesdays in the city, and worst of all, he is being followed by a bodyguard. I wasn't much of an ease dropper, but hearing that stopped me in my tracks to listen.

He used to hang out with Jake, Brian, and Tyler until he was caught, taking the fall for them. They knew that Edward wouldn't rat them out, so they bailed on him, leaving him to face the cops by himself.

There was a piece of the puzzle that I couldn't put together, he admitted to having the drugs on him. Something inside of him, a part that wanted to become clean, told him to stay; otherwise he could've escaped with the others.

Why did I even care?

Edward and his situation have nothing to do with me. Yet, the story didn't make sense and that bothered me, nagging at the back of my mind.

I pushed it all out of my head, back to the present that held a boring lecture on Shakespeare. Ms. Hartsburg was perched on the top of her desk reading off the notes she had written down about what she was supposed to say.

Deciding that there were more interesting matters at hand, I peered at Edward out of the corner of my eye.

His jaw was chiseled, but wasn't threatening with the midnight black hair that lined it all the way around, stopping at the tips of his matching eyelashes. All of his features were perfect for his edgy personality.

A quiet knock on the tabletop forced me to look at his arm. The veins popped out of it, but not enough to look sickly. His hand moved to grab something next to his chair, pushing up the sleeve of the sweatshirt he was wearing even more than it was already rolled up. I noticed the tattoo that was inked on the inside of his forearm, below his elbow. It was of a few piano keys, a smile formed on my face at the innocence of it.

Edward sat up from bending over holding a stack of books. He set them on top of the table, slowly pushing them towards me. I glanced between the two realizing a critical fact, they were _my_ books. They now sat right in front of my opened mouth. How did he get these?

Then, I remembered dropping them in the hallway and leaving them. Not having a second thought about them until after I came out of the bathroom to find that there was nothing left where they had once been.

Neither of us tried to establish any contact after that. Again, I wanted to thank him, but couldn't bring myself to do it. It was all so frustrating; my favorite class had just turned into my most hated.

The bell rang announcing lunch had arrived. Most of the other students had already charged their way to the lunchroom, I staggered behind.

A large muscled man whose height was only a tad taller than Edward's six feet appeared behind us. He gripped Edward's shoulder and tugged him out of the room. He stumbled along behind the man, his bodyguard, losing his balance a few times.

The quick glance that he threw over his shoulder at me would've been missed if I hadn't been watching his retreating figure carefully. My stomach churned a little bit, making me feel like I had to throw up, but it wasn't in a bad way that I was nauseous. It was that I was anxious about this _thing_, I didn't know what it was, everything was new to me.

I noticed that my hands shook when I reached towards the books that still sat on the tabletop. The smell that lingered on them belonged to him, making me calm as it spread around me. It calmed me down, not only did his scent do that, but his mere presence made me feel normal.


End file.
